Legislative:
Hearing on Endangered Species Act Bills

H.R. 424 (Rep. Collin Peterson), To direct the Secretary of the Interior to reissue final rules relating to listing of the gray wolf in the Western Great Lakes and Wyoming under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and for other purposes. “Gray Wolf State Management Act of 2017”

H.R. 717 (Rep. Pete Olson), To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require review of the economic cost of adding a species to the list of endangered species or threatened species, and for other purposes. “Listing Reform Act”

H.R. 1274 (Rep. Dan Newhouse), To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require making available to States affected by determinations that species are endangered species or threatened species all data that is the basis of such determinations, and for other purposes. “State, Tribal, and Local Species Transparency and Recovery Act”

H.R. 2603 (Rep. Louie Gohmert), To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide that nonnative species in the United States shall not be treated as endangered species or threatened species for purposes of that Act. “Saving America's Endangered Species Act” or “SAVES Act”

H.R. 3131 (Rep. Bill Huizenga), To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to conform citizen suits under that Act with other existing law, and for other purposes. “Endangered Species Litigation Reasonableness Act.”

Democratic Topline Messages

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is one of our most important conservation laws. 99% of the species that have received ESA protection are still with us today, and 90% of listed species are on track to meet their recovery goals.

The ESA has overwhelming public support and does not need to be “reformed” or “modernized.” It is an effective law that gives states, localities, landowners, and private interests an incredible amount of flexibility to proceed with development projects in a way that protects biodiversity.

The goal of each of these bills is to weaken the ESA, not to make it “work better,” and enacting these bills into law would drive the extinction of fish, wildlife, and plants in America and around the globe.